I Am Not A Self-Made Millionaire

Hi there! Jan here. Hope you're having an awesome day / night. :)

(living in the other side of the world, working with international clients, I seldom confuse my days and nights so pardon me.) :-D

Last month, I shared with you my story and one of my biggest wins for this year.

If you missed it, no worries! You can check it out here.

In this 2nd monthly newsletter, I would like to share with you why I can not claim to be a self-made millionaire even if I call myself a solopreneur.

Macmillian dictionary defines, 'solopreneur' as:

a?business?owner?who?works?and?runs their?business?alone

The term?solopreneur?is of course a blend of the adjective?solo?meaning ‘done by one person alone’ and the noun?entrepreneur, which refers to someone who starts their own business and is good at spotting and securing the best business opportunities.?

Even if I started bootstrapping my agencies on my own which merits me the definition, I did not achieve millions of revenue all by myself.

But how did I do it?

First, I started doing EVERYTHING on my own.

From learning skills over skills, to attending webinars, business conferences, free and paid trainings, reading books, listening to audiobooks, to doing my own payroll, fulfillment, marketing, lead generation, sales, and closing deals, I did them all.

It's in my personality that I need to know and experience how one thing works first before I hand it over to someone else.

I need to know what quality work looks like for each client I help, before I teach and delegate the task to another person should there be a need for me to take on a bigger role.

That way, I can train my assistant better and clearer than just throw an SOP (standard operating procedure) document and leave him or her be.

The more I understand my client's needs and how my role in the business come into play for the success of his company, the more I am able to pass that to my associates.

The more they understand how important the task and their role is in our client's business, the more they deliver quality results.

Next, I learned how to build long-term relationships with clients.

The longest I have by far is a 9-year working relationship (and counting) with a client from Austin, TX.

After working together helping other E-commerce businesses grow and expand into multi-marketplaces from Amazon, having generated millions of revenue for them as well for about a decade, I am so happy that he finally decided to put up his very own E-commerce brand which we run together now with his family and diverse teams from all over the world.

He is the very first international client I have who trusted me and gave me a shot to prove my worth while working remotely.

I can not forget that day when he left me alone to take care of the business development division while he and his wife were out for vacation in London.

I was so freaking scared! LOL

I remember that time thinking to myself, this man trusts me so much that I CAN NOT allow myself to mess up.

To even send one wrong word or punctuation mark in an email... I was THAT careful. Haha!

But because he is a very good teacher and mentor, and I was so focused in not letting him down, I was able to make it through the rest of the week with flying colors (I guess. I mean, I did not receive any negative feedback and that business that we helped is still alive and kicking up to this day. Yay!)

Fast forward to today, armed with everything I learned from his leadership, I carried it out to how I manage and take care of my team members, the same way he treated me with utmost respect.

I still implement the things he taught me in dealing with different businesses and executives.

I will not be who I am today, had he not allowed me to also build my own business and apply what I learned from him with other clients for my agency.

He did not tie me down.

He did not micro-manage me.

He allowed me to make mistakes here and there and learn from them on my own.

He raised the bar high for me to identify what kind of clients I am fit to work with, and what should I look out for in a long-term agreement.

Since then, I've had great opportunities to work with multiple business owners across different industries.

From E-commerce store owners, to business / life / personal development coaches, podcast hosts, authors, keynote / TEDx speakers, digital marketing agencies, outsourcing / recruitment companies, to event organizers, and executive officers, it's been an honor working with them all.

From being a business development coordinator, and customer & sales support, to a LinkedIn lead generation specialist, digital marketing consultant, business and virtual assistant coach, a podcast host, a real estate investor, and launching my very first e-learning platform, the School of LinkedIn Marketers, he was all there and a witness to all of it.

Sometimes, it only takes one person who will give you that shot before you figure out your own superpowers.

Next, I started hiring without any HR background and gave myself permission to make TONS of mistakes along the way.

I graduated with Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and have no idea how to recruit or find the right talents back then, more so good collaborators.

So I highly relied on mere gut and instinct.

I always learn by doing.

I've had my fair-share of difficult freelancers.

I've already heard one-too-many excuses.

I've had freelancers disappear in the middle of a project, back out when introduced to a client, do mediocre work, and worse just flat-out do not perform at all.

Which led me to eventually create a list of what I will watch out for in future hirings and exactly what I use at present to avoid headaches.

(I am happy to share that list with you in my next newsletter, especially if you are planning to delegate tasks to high-performing Filipino virtual assistants. Can you tell me in the comments if you want to have it?)

Now that I have a good list of who I want to work with (both clients and freelancers), I started looking for more and bigger opportunities

That despite the break of a pandemic (2020), I was able to give jobs to people who were laid off.

35 freelancers doing Amazon and Shopify customer service, 10 freelancers doing LinkedIn lead generation, and have referred or matched about 25 freelancers with ideal clients of their own.

These clients, freelancers, collaborators, referrals, mentors, fellow coaches and business owners were the reason for me to reach my revenue goal in just a span of 3 years since I started my Virtual Assistant agency, JB & Associates PH in 2017, and my Lead Generation agency, Connected By Humans in 2019.

I am not a self-made millionaire.

I allowed myself to be surrounded by leaders who are better than me, people who are smarter than me, people who are way ahead of me and have gone through more challenges than I did, and I allowed people who can do the things I know I do not excel at come into my life and guide me.

I will forever be grateful for all of you.

As I keep going, I welcome more opportunities, collaborations, and I look forward to seeing more happy faces along the way as we continue our journey through life.

--

PS:?Whenever you're ready... here are 3 ways I can help you grow your business:

1. If you are a Filipino who uses LinkedIn, save your seat in the?School of LinkedIn Marketers | SOLMA?waitlist and have a chance to join Batch 2 in August 2022.

It's a?new e-learning platform for Ethical Filipino LinkedIn Marketers where together with other LinkedIn coaches, we will share with you how to GROW your ideal client and customer list, plus get MASSIVE engagement and sales for small-medium businesses, agencies, big brands, freelancers, and everyone in-between who uses LinkedIn.

2. If you have a business with a minimum monthly revenue of $20,000, have already gotten clients on LinkedIn, and you would like to delegate your lead generation with my team of specialists so you can get out of the daily grind, better serve your clients or customers, focus in your zone of genius, and run your business efficiently,

Go here if you are a?business owner

Go here if you are a?freelancer

3.?If you want to work with me directly and get unstuck in wherever you are now in your business, and have a 3rd set of eyes to look at your digital marketing processes and systems,

I provide consultations through my program,?Streamline Your Business with?Jan. Just send me a message here on LinkedIn with the words, "Jan, I want to work with you!"